Bisping chooses first pick of the fighter, giving Mayhem first pick of the actual fights. He chooses Bryan Caroway vs. Marcus Brimage. Mayhem then strikes first in the prank war by putting all the tires from the gym (for flipping, sledgehammers, etc.) into Team Bisping's warm up room, even managing to get the biggest one to tip over & block the door closed. At weigh-ins Marcus's teammates have a military-march style call & response for him, eventually calling Bryan a bitch & calling for him to be left in a ditch, at the end of which Marcus screams. Mayhem refers to it as the "cutesy little show tune" he's ever heard, while his team members mock the high pitch of Marcus's scream. Bryan, however, took the "bitch" comment very personally & it fires him up. Team training sessions show us that Marcus is almost purely a striker while Bryan's focus is more wrestling & jits.

Fight starts & Bryan has Marcus on his back within 30sec & has taken Marcus' back within 30sec of that. He spends the rest of the round there, working to take Marcus's neck, but Brimage defends well. 2nd round starts the same, but then Marcus is able to get back to his feet. Bryan looks absolutely gassed & Marcus starts to turn it on, defending multiple takedowns & landing some good strikes, including connecting on a nice knee. However, Bryan manages to get another takedown, moves to the back & is able to get the choke.

I really liked Mayhem's cornering style. He was constantly encouraging, but also was doing more than just repeating the same things over & over. On top of that he was coaching against Marcus, telling him to "go to sleep, Darkness!".

TexasRN

09-29-2011 05:42 PM

Mayhem was the reason I tuned in to watch this season and he is not letting me down. Plus, these fights so far have been outstanding. I love the prank and hope for more of that kind of thing and much LESS house drama this season than we've seen before.

Mayhem's cornering was great and Bryan listened. He did what he was told and trusted that Mayhem knew what he was doing as cornerman/coach. I feel that that's the main reason he came out with his hand raised. Lovin' it!!!